


The Contest/The Vacation

by tarrysmith



Series: Songs Of The Heart Universe [2]
Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 15:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2196834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarrysmith/pseuds/tarrysmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, here’s a really long, rated-G story.  This is actually the first story I ever started to write, based on a dream I had about Tom.  I promised myself I’d finish it, and here it is.  All the places in the story are real, so if you want to know more about any of them, just let me know!  No smut, just lots of warm fuzzy friendship feels!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Contest/The Vacation

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you know if you like it, thanks for reading, and as always, enjoy!

The Contest/The Vacation

“Zac, would you answer my phone?” Normally, I wouldn’t ask my 8-year old grandson to answer, but as I was up to my elbows in cookie dough, it was necessary. “You remember how I told you to do it?”

“Yes, gramma, I got this!” I knew he would, too. He’s a smart boy!

“Tracy’s phone. Tracy’s got cookie dough all over her hands. This is Zac speaking. How can I help you?”

I listened to Zac’s side of the conversation, but I couldn’t quite tell what if was about. After he hung up, “What did they want?” I asked.

“The lady said you’ve won some kind of contest. You have to go pick up someone at the airport, and take them on some kind of a tour. I told her to text you the details, the way you taught me to.”

“Good boy,” I told him. I finished dropping the cookies on the cooking sheet, put the thing into the oven, washed my hands then took the phone to find out what it was about. I didn’t remember entering a contest, so I figured it was probably one of those time-share things. I got myself a can of diet soda out of the fridge, then went to sit at the kitchen table.

A few minutes later, I was glad I was sitting down! The text asked me to call an international number for more details, and now I remembered the contest. But there was no way this was real. I couldn’t possibly have won this contest! I remembered the day I’d entered it. It was at the high-def rebroadcast of the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston in the title role. “Enter to win a visit by Tom Hiddleston.” Well, a visit with my favorite actor would be awesome, to I filled out the questionnaire and put my name in the basket. Now it seemed like a miracle had occurred. Apparently, I’d won the thing!

Tom Hiddleston was coming to my house to spend two weeks living with our family! I could hardly believe it! I had til Friday to get everything ready! Mad scrambled cleaning ensued, and I planned out all the places I was going to take him and all the things we’d do!

On Friday morning, I took Zac and we went to the airport. I parked in the short-term lot, and we went in. We got as close to the gate he was supposed to come out of as the TSA would let us. People started trickling off the plane, and finally a huge clump of people, mostly female, came out in a bunch, and I saw in the middle of them—- oh, my gosh; it was him! He had on a ball cap, a leather jacket over a white V-neck T shirt, jeans, and black Chuck Taylors. He was smiling and laughing with the people off the plane, pen in hand, but as soon as they reached the end of the ramp, he pulled his cap low, put his index finger to his mouth in a shushing gesture, and winked. The crowd waved a little as they dispersed. Finally, he was on his own, and Zac and I approached him. I had warned Zac not to call too much attention to him, but he recognized him from his movies and he was jumping up and down a little when he looked up and said, “Hi Loki!”

Tom knelt down so he was more Zac’s height and said, “Hi, I’m Tom. Who are you?”

“I’m Zac. Tracy is my gramma and you’re coming to stay with us.” He took Tom’s hand and said, “Let’s go!”

I approached and offered my hand. “I’m Tracy,” I said stupidly. He took my hand, shook it lightly, then pulled me into a hug. “Hi, Tracy, I’m Tom! I can’t wait to explore Oregon!!”

“Wow, you pronounced it right!”’ I said, surprised, because no one not from the West coast ever does.

“Oh good! Well, I did my homework! I gather it’s important to get it right!” He really did sound so excited. He was so young and boyish, and so incredibly cute! Well, this sure wasn’t going to help me get over my fan crush!

But, I looked at him and said, “Let’s go get your luggage and start this vacation!“

”All right!” he said, enthusiastically.

As we drove from the airport, Tom was like a little kid, head swiveling, trying to see everything. “I’ve never been to the Pacific Northwest before,” he said enthusiastically. “It looks a lot like England, so green.” He paused and looked at me. “Have you ever been to England?”

“Yes, actually I have. It was quite a while ago. My girls were singing in a choir and we went on a tour. I got to chaperon. It was awesome!”

“Your girls?” he asked. “Tell me about your family.”

“Well, my husband Noah and I have two daughters and a son, all grown up, and four grandchildren. My oldest daughter, Lindsay, is 28, and she’s Zac’s mom. They, she and her husband Mark, also have a daughter named Iris who is 6 months old. They live close so you’ll get to meet all of them.” I paused. “Am I boring you yet?” I glanced over at him, but as I was driving, it was brief. He was quick to reassure me, though.

“No,“ he said, “I want to know all about your family and your home, the things you like to do, just everything!” Once again, l was struck by how much energy and enthusiasm he had for everything.

“Great! Well, I tend to talk too much and too fast when I’m nervous…”

He laughed at that. “There’s nothing to be nervous about!” he said reassuringly. “It’s just me, Tom, and we’re going to have a great time together!”

“You don’t understand!” I said, trying not to squeal. “I’m driving around in my little car with Tom Hiddleston riding shotgun! Aaahh!”

“Yes, well, steady on, there, Tracy!” he said, giving his trademark little chuckle. “Tell me about your other children.”

“OK!” I said, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down. “My second daughter Jenny, who’s 25, lives with her husband Aaron and their twins Peter and Patty in Denver. They can’t get away, so you won’t get to meet them.”

“That’s too bad,” he said, actually sounding disappointed. “That’s pretty far away. I bet you miss them.”

“Yes, but we take turns going back and forth. It’s closer than the East coast!”

“And you have a son?”

“Ian. He’s studying geology at Portland State. He’ll be around, so you’ll get to meet him as well.”

“Great!” he just sounded so delighted.

“Are you for real?” I asked him, still not quite believing this was happening.

“Last time I checked,” he said, chuckling again.

“You laugh a lot,“ I observed.

“Yes!” he said. “I always say: laugh a lot, smile all the time, and dance more!” Again, I was reminded of a little kid as he made a visible effort to rein in his excitement. “Will we get to go dancing?”

“If that’s what you want to do,“ I said. “You OK back there, Zac? You’re awful quiet.” I glanced at him in the rear-view mirror; the poor kid was in awe.

“Gramma,” he whispered. “We have Loki in our car!”

“Yes, Zacky, we do!” I agreed.

I suddenly realized how funny the situation was, and I laughed myself. “Sorry about my little car,” I said. It was a Chevy Spark, a rather nice micro car, but he was so tall that his head was almost touching the ceiling.

“I think it’s delightful!” he said.

“So,” I continued, “once we get home, I figured we would sit down and make a list of all the things you’d like to do.”

He rummaged around in his bag and pulled out a well-thumbed little book. He held it up. ”I’ve been going through this guide book!” he enthused. “I want to go to the Zoo, and the Rose Garden, and Pittock Mansion, and I want to ride MAX, and the tram, and I want to see boats! And the ocean! I want to see the Goonies house, and go to Mt. Hood, and Multnomah Falls, and – oh, we’re not going to have enough time to do it all, are we?” He sounded so disappointed, that I was quick to reassure him.

”We’ll do as much as we can,” I said. “I still can’t believe I won this contest!”

“Yes, well, I rather helped with that, I’m afraid,“ he confessed.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well,” he explained, ”it wasn’t exactly a random drawing thing. I’m so tired, and the thought of spending 2 weeks with some screaming fan girl had me positively cringing!”

“I can understand that,” I agreed.

“So, I myself went through all the entries personally! I picked you because you have a family and you won’t start throwing knickers at me or ask me to father your children or anything!”

“You’re right there!” I said wryly. “Does that really happen?” I asked curiously.

He made a little face. “You have no idea,” he said. “I just want to have a vacation where I get to have some fun! Where I can relax. I don’t think that’s too much to ask!”

“No, it’s not!” I agreed. “Well, I promise, no knickers throwing! And I’ve already got three children! I’m old enough to be your mother, Tom! You’re safe with me!”

“That sounds wonderful!” he sighed. “I really need this! We’re going to have so much fun!”

We arrived at our house, and I sent Zac out to play. He was still in awe of having ‘Loki’ at our house.

“He’s so cute!” Tom said. “I love children! I hope to have several of my own someday!”

“Well, you’re not getting any younger!” I snapped. “Better get on that! Your mom probably wants grandchildren!” I slapped my hands over my mouth. “Oh, I can’t believe I just said that! I’m so sorry, that none of my business!”

He chuckled. “You’re right, though. Mum is always after me to ‘settle down with a nice girl and give her a passel of grandchildren!’” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. “What I want to know, is, what’s a passel?”

We sat down at the kitchen table and I had Tom get out his guidebook. I got paper and pen. “Now, let’s see” I said, remembering. ”The Zoo, the Rose Garden—“

“Oaks Park!” Tom put in.” I want to go rollerskating on the floating skate floor and see the Wurlitzer!”

“Oaks Park,” I said, adding it to the list. ”The beach, Mt. Hood, the Sea Base,” I was writing.

“Sea Base?” Tom asked.

“You mentioned wanting to see boats. What better place than our Sea Scout Base? Noah and I are adult volunteers. We do have a girl in our group, Elsa, who’s a fan, but she’s a sweet girl. She and I talk about how awesome you are…” I trailed off. “Oh, I can’t believe you’re really here!”

He reached over and hugged me, laughing. “Pittock Mansion!” he said, gesturing at the list. I wrote it down. “MAX! The tram! The Goonies house, Multnomah Falls.” Once again, I was struck by how he pronounced it correctly. “You really did your homework to be able to pronounce ’Multnomah’ correctly,” I said, impressed.

“Yes,” he said. “What does that even mean? Some of the words here…”

“Pacific Northwest native American names,” I said.

I heard the front door slam and then a voice calling, “Hey, Trace…”

“It’s my sister, Trish,“ I told Tom. “She’s not gonna believe you’re here! In the kitchen, Trish!” I called.

“Hey Trace, you know…?” Trish came scooting into the kitchen, stopping short when she saw I had company. “Oh, hullo…”

She took a closer look at Tom, and totally fan girled. “Aaahhh!” she squealed, “Trace, Tom Hiddleston is sitting at your kitchen table!”

“No duh,” I said proudly. Trish wasn’t an obsessed fan the way I was, but she did appreciate him. “I won that contest I entered in February!“

“No way!” she said, then she stuck her hand out at Tom. “I’m Tracy’s sister Trish,” she said, sounding a little stunned.

“Well, hi there! I’m Tom. It’s lovely to meet you!” Tom said, with one his little laughs.

“Why are you in Tracy’s kitchen? And how long are you gonna be in Tracy’s kitchen?” I felt bad for her, she sounded so poleaxed! “Tracy entered a contest…” Tom began, but in my excitement I interrupted him. “I won!” I blurted out.

Trish hadn’t really known about the contest, so it was no wonder she didn’t have a clue about it. Tom and I explained it together. “And I just really need a vacation, so I went through all the entries and picked the one I thought would be the most fun,” Tom finished.

“And you picked Tracy?” Trish asked, with disbelief. “Are you demented, or something?”

“I need a VACATION,“ Tom emphasized. “I need some peace and quiet and some relaxation. I think Tracy and this family are perfect.”

“Two weeks,” Trish mused, looking over our list. “Ambitious, but should be doable…”

“I was thinking three days of sighting seeing, and then a down day to recover, watching videos, going to the movies, or just hanging around the house,” I said.

“That sounds like a really good plan,” Tom said. I realized he had been looking back and forth between us as if watching a tennis match.

“Gosh sorry, Tom,” I said apologetically. “Does this sound good to you, really?”

He was quick to reassure me. “Yes, it does,” he said, nodding.

“Man, I gotta get, but this is so awesome. Potluck the first down day!” Trish said, and with that, she was out the door.

The schedule:

Day 1 jet lag/unpack/chill

Day 2 Pittock Mansion/Rose Garden/Zoo

Day 3 Multnomah Falls/Vista House

Day 4 Lincoln City/Seaside/Astoria:Goonies House

Day 5 down day/videos at home

Day 6 Tram/MAX/Library/Art museum

Day 7 Oaks Park/rollerskating

Day 8 Mt Hood/Alpine Slide

Day 9 down day/movies

Day 10 cruise on the Columbia with Sea Scouts

Day 11 Breitenbush/Santiam Gorge Trail

Day 12 jet boat on the Willamette/OMSI

Day 13 down day/ go to the Mall/Shopping?

Day 14 down day/picnic/going away party

Day 15 Bye, Tom, we’ll miss you!

The first few days flew by. Tom was like a little kid, and he loved everything I threw at him. I was amazed that for the most part, no one recognized him. The big exception to that was at the Zoo, when some teen-aged fan girl, who was obviously being dragged by her folks, spotted him. “Oh my gosh, that’s Tom Hiddleston!” she yelled. I heard gasps, yells, mutters of “who?”, and everything in between. Several little kids figured it out, and then there were cries of “Loki!” in addition to the other chaos. Of course, Tom was generous about it, and I did my part, taking photos for people while Tom signed autographs.

The first down day, all the family came and we had a potluck. We forced Tom to watch all four videos in the Hollow Crown series, encouraging him to give us a live audio commentary. Trish and I had already watched them several times, so getting comments from Tom was amazing. We learned quickly that once you got Tom talking, it was really had to get him to stop. But everything out of his mouth was so intelligent, that we all wanted to hear what he had to say.

We had another fan recognition event at the Mall on Day 13, but, again, Tom handled it in a sweet and gracious way, allowing himself to be led to a video store so that folks could take photos of him against a poster of Thor: The Dark World.

That night, Noah and I, Trish and Ray, and Lindsay and Mark, took Tom to a dance club. I was never sure whether he was recognized or not, but he certainly had his share of female attention. He took turns dancing with Trish and Lindsay and I, and he was so much fun and so graceful. He did some group dancing, but every time someone outside our group approached him, he would gesture over to us and say, “Sorry, I’m with my family.” It was a great night!

On the last day, we planned a picnic and went to Tryon Creek State Park, an urban forest inside the city limits. I had had such a wonderful 2 weeks with Tom, and l think it’s safe to say we had become truly really good friends in the time we’d spent together. I was really going to miss him, and it caused me to go quiet and introspective.

Tom came over to me, dragging a lawn chair, and sat beside me, taking my hand in his.

“I don’t want to go home,” he confessed quietly. “I have had such a wonderful time, and I’ve come to care for you and your wacky family so much.”

I leaned forward and hugged him, and he hugged me back.

“I want to tell you something, Tom,” I began. I wasn’t sure how I was going to say this, but I knew l had to tell him.

“I lost my first child, my son, Lu,” I began. “He would have been a couple of years older than Lindsay. It’s been over 30 years, and it isn’t debilitating, but l still miss him.”

Tom’s mouth tightened, and I saw tears in his eyes that I knew mirrored mine. He squeezed my hand, and made a ‘please continue’ gesture with his hand.

“What I’m trying to say,” I said, looking in his eyes, “is that, I know you have your own mum that you love a lot, but I’ve come to care for you so much, and it’s almost as if you’re — you’re like my son that I lost, and love is such a wonderful thing, that it should be shared when we feel it, and…“ I reached out to hug him again, and he held me so tight and rubbed my back as my tears spilled over. “Tom, I love you like a son, and I’m so sad to think I’ll never see you again… “

“Oh, Tracy,” Tom said, pulling back so he could look at me, and his own tears were dripping down his face, “I know exactly what you mean! I feel the same way! You and Noah and Ian and Trish and Ray and Lindsay and Mark and the kids — you guys are my family now! There’s no way I could ever not see you all again! You’re my American Mom, and I love you, too!”

Our goodbyes the next day as we packed him onto his plane were tearful all around. Tom hugged me tight, our tears mingling on our faces. “I’ll text you as soon as I land, so you’ll know I’m safe,” he assured me.

“Bye for now, Tom,” l said, kissing him on the cheek. “I love ya, kid!”

“Love ya, too, Mom!” he said, grinning. And then he was gone.

 

15 year old Zac was once again babysitting my phone as I baked. “Tracy’s phone. Tracy’s got cookie dough all over her hands. This is Zac speaking. How can I help you?”

He listened for a moment or two, then said, “Hi there, Tracy H! Let me put you on speaker phone.’’ He did it, and I heard the little British-accented voice say, “Hi Zacky, hello Nana Tracy!” 5 year old Tracy was Tom and Leigh’s oldest.

“Hi, Tracy H!” I said, chuckling. “Do your folks know you’re on the phone?” This was not the first time she’d called; I was one of her favorite people and she often reached out to me when she was unhappy.

“Yes,” she lisped. “Daddy is right here; Noah too!” Baby Noah was three, and Leigh was expecting twins in another month. 

“That’s why we’re calling, Trace,” Tom’s sexy voice still gave me chills, even though we’d talked frequently over the years. “We want to finalize the arrangements for your visit next month. Leigh is getting so anxious.” Leigh had lost her mother 20 years before, and the first time she and I met, it was as if she were my own daughter. I had been there for the births of both Tracy and Noah, and I would be there for these twins. Tom and Leigh had chosen to not find out the sex of the babies, so everyone was pretty excited to find out.

The whole situation was so magical, and once again I was grateful that l had entered that contest, and that Tom had chosen me.

The End


End file.
